Women live significantly longer in poor health than men

According to a recent report by the World Economic Forum, women spend 25 per cent more years of their lives in poor health than men. Gender inequality in medical research and care (gender health gap) remains high. Without a rapid rethink, this gap could widen further with the increasing use of artificial intelligence in medicine, warns gender medicine expert Alexandra Kautzky-Willer from MedUni Vienna on the occasion of International Women's Day on 8 March. Diseases of the cardiovascular system, above all'heart attacks, are still considered typical male diseases, but at 37 per cent they are the number one cause of death in women (men 32 per cent). Cancer follows in second place with 21 per cent: "There has been an increase here in recent years, with lung cancer in particular occurring in more and more women," reports Alexandra Kautzky-Willer from MedUni Vienna's Department of Medicine III. According to the Austrian Women's Health Report 2022, the number of patients with gestational diabetes has doubled since 2010 - a drastic increase that is caused by obesity in at least 30 per cent of cases. The spread of obesity is also partly responsible for the fact that type 2 diabetes is also increasing in women at a younger age and that they are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular complications.